Robert E. Lee supposedly once remarked, although he may have been quoting someone else, that “It is well that war is so terrible – otherwise we should grow too fond of it.” And therein lies a terrible paradox. Everyone knows that wars can be terrible in their carnage. They generally are huge wastes of economic […]
Real World Economics Edward Lotterman Column 2023-36 September 1 – 2023 Doom for dollar in international trade is overblown Little has changed in international currency issues since last week. The BRICS conference was held, and six new countries added. Then everyone went home with nothing really done. Exchange rates have changed little nor have trade flows. But what about these variables in the longer-run for our nation’s currency? Is it, and are we, “doomed” as some pundits fret or is that a phantom menace? Why or why not? Remember that there are two aspects to the international status of the […]
A French president once asserted, to much acclaim, that the U.S. dollar’s status as a “reserve currency” conferred an exorbitant privilege on our nation. As I write this, members of the six-nation BRICS bloc are meeting in South Africa. The ways in which the dollar’s status harms these nations is a central topic and measures […]
This month Minnesota begins the long process of regulating legal retail sales of cannabis. Jackpots of a billion dollars or more in multistate lotteries are in the news. So the challenge of managing goods and services that people want to consume — but that also have harmful effects — are at center stage. Can economists […]